


Poker Night With The Phantoms

by wishful_stargazer



Series: JATP: Stories From The Poker Table [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friendship/Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:22:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28913049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishful_stargazer/pseuds/wishful_stargazer
Summary: The guys don't invite Julie to their poker game.
Series: JATP: Stories From The Poker Table [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2124372
Comments: 2
Kudos: 76





	Poker Night With The Phantoms

**Author's Note:**

> A few of you may know that I just wrote a 14,000 word fanfic based upon what a season 1 and a half might look like. This...is not that. This is something completely different based upon a little idea I had today. Poker is one of my hobbies, writing is another, so here we are!

Luke really wished he could chew gum as a ghost. There was just something missing in scooping up all of Reggie and Alex’s chips without having a wad of gum in his cheek that he could chomp. 

It was his own way of gloating over his victory. The guys knew it, too, and it never failed to irritate them. Which meant they played worse.

Oh, the sweet, sweet power of poker tilt. Even Always-Be-Folding-Alex would chase an inside straight or a backdoor flush draw when he got aggravated enough. Reggie was loose but fairly passive...he liked to call but not bet or raise. 

Of course, Reggie was also about as hard to read as a billboard. Honest to the core and as friendly as a puppy, Reg was very poorly set up to win at poker. There was no mistaking his excitement when he picked up a good hand. Half the time Luke expected him to grow a tail just so he could wag it.

The truth was, as a ghost that very few people could see, who had no way of earning money, and only very limited options for spending it (since he died, his guitar was not only “attached” to his soul, but it seemed to be indestructible...he’d never broken a string or even had to buy a pick or so much as tune it any more) poker wasn’t AS much fun as it used to be.

Except when he completely and utterly stomped them. That never got old.

They usually played for chores and favors now, instead of cash. Every one of the red chips he was gleefully pocketing represented something he could make Reggie do, and the white chips indicated the same for Alex. 

“Let’s see who gets to babysit Carlos while Julie and I write tomorrow…” he said digging blindly in his pocket. He came out with a white chip. “Alex, you are our winner!”

“Okay, okay, enjoy it today,” Alex retorted. “Next time we play stud.” 

“C’mon, Alex,” Luke rolled his eyes. “We’re dead, not seventy.”

“Yeah, Alex,” Reggie said. “Let’s play something fun next time, like Pineapple! Or Badugi!”

“I’m down,” Luke laughed. Reggie was even worse at the unusual variants than straight No Limit Hold ‘Em.

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” Julie’s voice broke into Luke’s gleeful contemplation of what he would make Reggie do next.

“Just wrapping up our poker game.” Luke stood up to greet her, then plopped on the couch, pulling her into his lap and resting his head against hers.

Touching Julie and actually being able to feel her never got old. Not that they’d done anything more than a little cuddling and hand-holding. Luke wasn’t really sure what was okay, since she was sixteen and he was...well, if not for the “being dead” thing...he would be around forty-two.

And he could never decide whether the “being dead” thing made it better or worse.

Today, though, instead of just relaxing against him and getting comfy on the couch, Julie turned and looked at him squarely in the face. “You played poker and didn’t invite me?” Her wide-eyed expression said everything. She was hurt.

Along with music, Luke’s gift had always been words. Lyrics, sure, but also quick comebacks, smart remarks, flirtatious banter, and charming appeals. He was NEVER at a loss for something to say.

Except whenever Julie looked at him like that. Inevitably, he would stutter. And babble. His mind would go blank and his brain would beg him to say something. ANYTHING. But would offer NO helpful suggestions as to WHAT.

Today wasn’t going to be any different, apparently. “I...uh, that is...well…”

“I mean it IS Saturday and Flynn’s out of town at her grandmother’s,” Julie continued. “It would be nice if you guys would include me in some things.”

“I don’t know, Julie,” Alex broke in, looking worried. “Luke’s, well, you know, kind of a shark. Do you even play poker?”

“My dad taught me and Carlos, yeah,” she shrugged. She gave him the fish eye. “I’m pretty sure I can tell one card from another one.”

Luke finally recovered the power of speech. “Of course, Julie, we’d love to have you now that we know you play.”

“Great!” she stood up and brushed off her jeans. “Let’s get started!”

“Well, I’ve already cleaned out Alex and Reggie today,” Luke objected, his visions of cuddling with Julie and watching  _ The Dark Crystal _ on Netflix for the rest of the afternoon evaporating.

“That’s fine, then. I should get my shot at the winner,” she smirked at him. “Sounds like that’s you. What are the stakes?”

“Well, we usually play for favors since we don’t really need money so much any more,” Luke admitted. 

“Hmm. Favors?” Julie lifted an eye toward the ceiling. “That seems a little...open-ended. I prefer knowing what I’m getting into when I sit down at a poker game.”

“In all seriousness, Julie,” Reggie interjected. “You don’t want to play Luke heads up. Give us a few days to get out of debt to him and we’ll have a three or four-way.”

Julie giggled. Alex rounded on Reggie. “Really? Do you hear yourself when you talk?”

Reggie blushed bright red. “Three-handed! We’ll play three-handed!”

Julie giggled some more. Luke pressed his lips together, closed his eyes and started counting. Specifically, counting ways to kill Reggie.

“Tell you what, guys,” Julie smirked. “Let’s all play.”

“We can’t,” Alex objected. “Reggie and I can’t go any deeper into favor-debt with Luke.”

“No problem,” Julie said. “Let’s play strip poker. All you have to lose is..your shirt.”

  
  


*****

Luke was NOT okay with this. And said so. At least five times. 

“Relax, Luke,” Julie smiled innocently at him. “It’s not like we’re playing Truth or Dare or something.”

“What the heck are the rules when YOU play Truth or Dare?” Reggie asked, his voice coming out at a high pitch. So far, of the three of them, Alex had remained the calmest. 

“Guys, she’s obviously messing with us because Reg was an idiot about the three-way,” Alex asserted. 

“Just so we’re clear, I’m not on board for any “ways” of any kind today,” Julie said with a laugh. “But poker is fun, and it’s not like any of you guys would ever hurt me. And I THINK I can control myself from attacking any of you, even in your birthday suits.” 

Luke couldn’t take it. “And when--I mean--IF you lose...how are you going to like that?” Girls. He hadn’t even kissed Julie, he’d been so patient, respectful, and careful. And now she wanted to strip in front of him.  _ Correction, _ he thought,  _ us. She wants to strip in front of us? _

“If I lose, you guys can choose whether to hold me to my bets or not,” she replied, giving him her most angelic expression. “I mean, it would be silly for you not to, but I’m not going to force myself on you.”

Luke, sighed. She wasn’t letting this go. Fine, he’d win a few of those bracelets she always wore, maybe get Alex out of his hoodie and Reggie out of his shirt, and then he’d call the game.

“Whatever, fine,” he caved. “We need some ground rules.”

Julie nodded. “People in their underwear have lost and don’t have to play any more,” she started. “Stakes are--” she looked around at the boys, all of whom wore necklaces, bracelets, and at least a ring or two. “Items of jewelry, 1 white chip. Shoes or socks, 2 white chips. Secondary layer of clothing, 1 red chip. Primary layer of clothing: 1 blue chip. Shall we say, Limit Hold’Em, bets before the flop and on the river only? A small and big blind, of 1 and 2 white chips. No funny rules or non-standard hands play. No wilds.”

“Winning hand can put something back on if it’s a full house or higher,” Alex added. Luke gave him an incredulous look. “What, you’ve never played strip poker before?”

“I--just---you--” Luke wanted nothing more than to stomp out of the garage. He was about 90% sure if he left that the three of them would decide to do something else. He couldn’t help it, though. He eyed Reggie suspiciously, then Alex. Neither of them had objected NEARLY hard enough. What if he left and they played anyway?

“Fine! Deal me in.” They cut and Luke was the big blind for that hand. That meant unless he won, he was already going to be down a shoe after this hand. He briefly entertained the idea of taking a dive. No, better to run over Julie with a truck early.  _ There’s still time to convince her that this is a BAD idea!  _

*****

Their third hand was concluding. Luke smiled down at his hole cards. His pocket jacks had turned into a set with a truly gorgeous turn card, and then filled up when the river paired the board. The river diamond also meant someone might be sitting on a flush thinking their hand was good. Time to go for Alex’s hoodie and maybe his jeans, too.

“Fifteen,” he said confidently, tossing in a red and a blue chip. 

To his disappointment, Alex folded. Apparently he hadn't been on a diamond draw after all. Reggie, astonishingly, was already out, having declared Julie’s relatively mild 2 chip raise pre-flop “too rich for my blood.” Reggie, who normally wouldn’t even fold a poker hand if he found it in his laundry, had thus far managed not to lose a stitch of clothing.

Julie looked Luke squarely in the eye. “Twenty-five,” she raised, dumping a red and two blues into the pot. Luke glanced down at the clothes he was wearing doubtfully. So far he was down two shoes, a sock, his rabbits foot necklace and most of his rings. That left him a couple of bead bracelets, the slouchy sweater/jacket thing he was wearing but didn’t know the name of, his jeans, and his sleeveless Queen tee. If he called this and lost, he was definitely showing skin. 

He assessed Julie carefully. She was only down a couple of bracelets and a shoe. He concluded she could lose this bet without taking off anything critical, but maybe it would knock some sense into her. He smiled down at his jacks. “Call.”

Julie smiled hugely, tabled her hand, and Luke felt his heart sink. “Kings full.” Not only was she getting his shirt, she was going to get to put her shoe back on.

  
  


*****

Luke sat in his boxer briefs bereft of sleeves, beanie, jewelry, and pretty much everything else he could think of. He felt cold (even though he was pretty sure that part was in his head. Could a ghost actually get cold?) and exposed.

“And I’m going to declare Mr. Luke Patterson our loser today,” Julie smiled. He snorted at her and reached for his t-shirt. “Hey, wait,” she said. She glanced from Alex (who had interestingly opted to remove his shirt and retain his shoes and socks) to Reggie (who Luke was pretty sure had managed to don MORE clothes when none of them were looking. “I declare myself the winner. And to the victor, the spoils should go.”

She leaned over and gently ran her hands down Luke’s biceps and arms before taking his hands. Very delicately, she kissed his right cheek, then his shoulder, and then dropped a fairy light peck on his chest. She smiled up at him and her brown eyes seemed to liquefy right in front of him. “Good night, Luke.”

It’s a good thing breathing is very much optional for ghosts. Luke didn’t exhale until the next day.


End file.
